Britain steps up Darfur supplies

Darfur is gripped by a humanitarian crisis

Britain is providing two more planes to fly supplies to the war-ravaged Darfur region of western Sudan.

The planes for Oxfam and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) will fly from Manston airfield, Kent.

The United Nations estimates at least 2m people need food aid in Darfur, but badly-needed water and sanitation equipment are also in acute demand.

A British appeal to help the black Africans driven from their homes by Arab militias has reached £10m.

Refugees are fleeing fighting between rebels and the government-backed militias, collectively known as the Janjaweed, who are accused of a campaign of terror.

Aid cargo

Cargo on the two planes - one of which leaves on Wednesday, the other on Friday - includes water and sanitation equipment to be used for drinking water and over 1,000 latrines in Kalma camp, south Darfur.

The Kalma camp has doubled in size to 60,000 people over the last three weeks and its infrastructure cannot cope with the numbers.

This equipment will help us to save lives Paul Smith Lomas, Oxfam

Oxfam is already working locally to build toilets because torrential rains are pushing diseases borne in human excrement around the crowded camp.

"The situation in Darfur is desperate and Kalma camp urgently needs this aid," said Paul Smith Lomas, the charity's humanitarian director.

"People are already dying but we are dreading a cholera outbreak which could kill a lot more.

"This equipment will help us to save lives."

Deadline

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) says the donations are already being distributed among the nine charities working in Sudan.

The DEC has pledged to get cash from its UK appeal for Darfur to charities on the ground as quickly as possible.

The Red Cross is spending £400,000 on non-food items and last week Save The Children delivered 40 tonnes of supplies, including shelters and medicine.

The DEC is organising the appeal on behalf of the British Red Cross, Cafod, Care International UK, Christian Aid, Concern, Help the Aged, Merlin, Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund and World Vision and has a target of £27m.

Sudan protest

Tens of thousands of people have marched through the Sudanese capital Khartoum in protest against any foreign intervention in Darfur.

The government-backed protesters said they were ready to die in a jihad if any western troops entered the country.

The African Union says it has boosted the armed force it plans to send to Darfur from 300 to 2,000 troops.

The United Nations has demanded Sudan take action over what has been called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

In a Security Council resolution, it gave the Sudanese government 30 days to disarm the Arab militias that have driven hundreds of thousands of black Africans from their villages in the west of the country.